Scunthorpe United manager Stuart McCall was frustrated with his side’s performance against fellow struggles Bristol Rovers as they fell to defeat at Glanford Park.

It was a goal from the impressive Jonson Clarke-Harris that sealed the victory for Rovers. The big striker was dominant against the Iron’s defence, and McCall stated he would like to see his strikers look to show this levels of physicality moving forward.

McCall said: “Clarke-Harris was the player of the day. I said to Kyle Wootton that is what he needs to go and look at if he wants to have a good career. He was strong, physical and looked after the ball for them.

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“Kev (van Veen) I thought did well, but he’s got to head it. The number of times since I’ve been at this football club when I’ve spoken about balls coming in. It’s a thing modern day players seem to do, where they try and volley it rather than head it!”

The Iron boss played a base 4-4-2 formation in the first-half, with Levi Sutton playing on the right wing and Adam Hammill on the left. But McCall didn’t like what he saw, and quickly made the change to go back to a diamond in the second-half.

McCall said: “We changed it at half-time because we weren’t getting the ball to Hammy.

“It’s frustrating, we weren’t winning battling up front – we lost too many battles. Second-half we started getting in good areas with Macca (Tony McMahon) and Tom (Pearce) getting in good positions down the flanks and then you just want quality – we were flat and lethargic for 30 minutes in the game and it cost us.”

A chance goes begging for Scunthorpe United against Bristol Rovers (Image: David Haber/scunthorpelive)

The Iron now have a huge game when they face Southend United at Glanford Park.

The Shrimpers have been in dire form, having not won for nearly two months now. A loss for McCall’s side could see them move into the relegation spots should other teams around them pick up victories.

“The best thing is we have a game on Tuesday and when you lose like we did you can’t wait to get back out there, but it’s no good saying that – we have to go out there with a desire and determination to win a game of football.

“There will be no doom and gloom (in training). We have 10 games of football to go, let’s show that we can be a good side. I’ve said before that on our day we can be a match for anyone.